Succulents on the terrace

You’ll know I’m rather partial to a succulent or two, and so having been relatively ‘starved’ of ogling other people’s succulents when I saw these perched on the wall overlooking the main lawn at Standen, it didn’t take me long to be standing in front of them.

And I wasn’t disappointed.

I mean, who could be disappointed with the dusky grey pink variety above or the pink, orange and yellow flowers of the one below.

And that large rosette. Pure heaven. Though my succulents tend to do this, and migrate to the edge of the pot. I’m glad that that is usual behaviour, however frustrating that may be.

But I think the one that stole the show was this pretty, pale pink flower. How delicate, and how exquisite. And even better it let my iPhone capture its detail - always a winner for me.

That was quite an unexpected succulent fix, but one that I didn’t realise I would enjoy quite as much as I did.

A secluded spot

Over the weekend I made more of a concerted effort to tackle editing my photos, which seem to be building up, even though we’re not going out anywhere as much as in a normal year. But as some are edited there’s no reason not to share, so for a couple of posts this week we’re heading off to Standen. I visited on the August Bank Holiday with MOH and MIL, what was a nice surprise was being able to go inside the house, even though it was just the ground floor, it felt quite a treat in these strange times.

So of course we headed there first, there was a short (socially distanced) queue but being a National Trust crowd it was all very amiable and all very nice (not that we’ve queued anywhere tbh which isn’t nice!) Afterwards we headed out into the central garden, starting off on the terraces just outside the conservatory, pretending, as you do, that perhaps it was our house.

Actually Standen is one of those National Trust properties that you feel you could actually live in. But clearly we don’t. It’s the sort of place, that even now, it’s easy to find a spot to sit in, and it has the best secluded spot.

To the right of the photo above is the conservatory in the house, which is equally a fab space, but this covered space, with its tiled background has to be the best secluded spot, surely.

Even the plants on the terrace conspire to keep its secret. Though the plant itself is pretty spectacular.

Looking more closely it was the tiles, not the bench that drew my attention. It’s easy to see why isn’t it?

But where do the stairs and the little door go?

I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure this is a spot you could sit for a while or two, and maybe then you’d find out. Either way it would be time well spent.

Reflecting on my week #141

Well, we did manage a paella as I hoped, though we’ve not managed as many barbecues in the last week as we’d hoped. What we hadn’t accounted for was how early it’s dark now. And how quickly it’s chilling down, that’s definitely more than a hint of autumn, but it’s not all bad.

I’d rigged up a string of solar lights across the garden in a very small attempt to get some light out there. Of course it doesn’t give anywhere near enough light, but they do look pretty. It’s across the garden, and has quickly become affectionately known as the washing line.

MOH spotted some battery garden lights, which can be connected to make longer strings. And so a master plan has been formed. Armed with a length of solar lights, a measure and today’s equivalent of the back of a fag packet, the plan was hatched.

The plan is to add three further strings of lights across the conservatory, the patio and further down the garden to transform our garden into a twinkling wonderland, although not so much of the twinkling. MOH is tasked with making the purchase tomorrow, and now all we need is some lanterns to supplement these. If I’m lucky i’ll have sourced these by next spring!

I took some time Wednesday afternoon away from my laptop, and away from work. Not quite as soon as I wanted, but some time nonetheless. I was dithering about what to do, and where to go, as I was waiting for the doctor to call, and with impeccable timing, he called. My blood pressure average for the past week wasn’t so different from the reading when I visited the surgery, in fact he asked me if I’d been taking the tablets. I had, and now I have more, so hopefully we’ll see a difference. And all because of a routine medication check, which has been a few years overdue, as it turned out.

I said last week about how the littlest #notmycat has an unhealthy interest in the squirrels, it seems her attention has been turned. Not for the first time this week we’ve spotted her making full use of the small shed’s roof. Yesterday instead of darting off, she tolerated my attempts to get closer. Not quite up to a tickle like her brother Sid (aka Killer) but comfortable enough to settle down.

We spent most of Sunday gardening, which is the first time for a while. But it looks much better for it, and I even found a lone sweet pea.

Gorgeous, I wish there were more!

I’ve only got a couple of days at work this week, but looking at the weather forecast I’m not sure that our planned trip to the south coast will happen. But then again if Boris has an announcement anything like the predictions we might choose not to go anyway.

Who knows, I think we’ll just have to wait and see. That’s much the story of 2020 though, isn’t it?